Show profits ln in ic acid the resources and outlook 0 of the tennessee copper company was the subject of a review by one of the leading new york banking houses recently the following is reprinted from a special circular sent out by that firm it is generally understood that the tennessee copper company has long been a producer of sulphuric acid as a product byproduct by but we doubt if many people are aware of the fact that within the last year or so the production of sulphuric acid has become the leading business of the company and a business that having already become immensely profitable is growing still more profitable with each succeeding year if not indeed with each succeeding month until today the profits derived by the company from the production of sulphuric acid alone are sufficient to pay the entire dividends on the of stock that the company has outstanding and leave a considerable surplus over this result is today being accomplished without taking into consideration the copper production of the company at all t within the last few months the output of sulphuric acid has increased from around tons a day to a maximum record of tons in a day with an average production at the present time of at least tons a day the sulphuric acid plant of the tennessee copper company which is by all odds the largest in the world runs day and night every day in the year except for a few days annually when it has to be closed down to put in new blower fans the company may be said therefore to operate its acid plant days a year figuring the running time per year at days and the daily output at tons in order to be conservative and we have an annual output of tons of acid the capital capitalization of the company is shares of a par value of 25 a share on these shares annual dividends are paid at the rate of 3 a share so that the annual dividend payments at the present rate call for disbursements to stockholders of a year the acid business provides all of this money even on a most conservative basis of figuring and leaves an annual surplus of this surplus of course is still further increased by the copper production which in normal time runs from to pounds annually and on which there is a profit with copper at the normal price of 14 to 15 cents a pound to A production of pounds sold a at t 14 cents a pound will yield a profit of which added to present profits from the acid production amounting to makes a total of annual profits amounting to about or twice the annual dividend requirements at the present rate of payment to the stockholders having shown how immensely profitable and important the sulphuric acid business is ds at present the next question to be considered is the amount of ore in the property from which the products can b be made on that point authorities say that the ore easily in sight is sufficient to last from forty to fifty years but it should be borne in mind that the ores of the tennessee copper company have not been fully exploited ed at no point have they been worked out at no point has the bottom of the ore bodies been found the ores of the th e tennessee copper company are the only ores in the world in large body with the exception of those of the rio tinto mine in spain from which sulphuric acid is made the formation of the ore body 1 is the same as that of the rio tinto mine the rio tinto mine in spain has been worked for some years and today the pyrites from that mine are shipped to the united states and all over the world and go into the manufacture of sulphuric acid therefore a supply on hand to last for half a century with large unexplored deposits and with the record of the rio tinto mine nobody now living need concern themselves seriously with the probable duration of the ores in the tennessee copper companas Comp anys property the pressure for sulphuric acid from manufacturers is so great that the tennessee copper company has plans in hand and practically completed for expanding the mining and hoisting operations fully one third which will increase the copper output to or pounds annually and necessarily increase the acid output also this can be done by electrifying the hoisting apparatus which can be accomplished at a small cost the work of expanding these facilities probably will be completed during 1915 it is pretty safe to predict that it will not the ibe very long before the acid output of the tennessee copper company can reach an average of 1000 1000 tons a day the cost of production under such an output will be reduced materially the last few months have been troublous times but the business of the tennessee copper company has been good on dec 1 the company redeemed in cash of its outstanding bonds so that there are now only of bonds outstanding the earnings in excess of all bond and and dividend requirements in the next years should provide a splendid surplus out of which the stockholders should benefit by increased dividends in due time this is one company that is not surrounded with any gloom whatever as is shown by the fact that the regular quarterly dividend of 75 cents a share was paid this month |